Figs, figs, everywhere!

Hi everyone! Im new to this forum; I have some questions. Is Ficus carica the species of Ficus that everyone is referring to? And is this forum as a whole for people in the US only? Im from Aus :blush:

2 Likes

Yes the common fig and it’s for anybody who wishes to participate.

2 Likes

Cool!

I go walking in the bush a lot where I live thus I get to stumble upon a lot of big fig trees. Namely in my region it is Ficus macrophylla among other much less known species of native aussie figs. I enjoy eating them when ever I find them. I would like to grow one in my garden but it is too small to hold one. Maybe one day.

2 Likes

Bring a camera with you next time. Or if you have any photos. That species sure gets big! Bizarre tree. The writeup said the figs are not that good. But you seem to enjoy them. Carica though has so many different kinds of figs that have flavors of strawberry to banana and everything in between. In California that has the wasp many new common fig seedlings have been found. It’s rather exciting times in the fig community just about now. New cultivars are all over the place these days. .

2 Likes

Welcome! There’s at least 4 members from Australia. In the ‘About This Forum’ category there is an intro thread, please introduce yourself there.

In addition, you can request to have your (general) location placed on our map. It’s always fun to look and see who is in your area.

2 Likes

I sure will bring my camera next time! They sure are massive. Most of the figs tend to be green inside when they are on the branch so I wait till they are on the ground that way they are easier to gather as well. I have been interested in “bush tucker” for a while now so my taste buds tend to be a bit less sophisticated compared to others.

3 Likes

Something about foraging wild fruit. I guess back to our roots. I grow just about everything yet forage for berries every year. I’m just starting to get ripe figs here.

8 Likes

Looks just like my Nero 600. Is that a VDB type?

My Nero 600M has been ripening breba starting a week ago. They aren’t very sweet this year, unfortunately.

3 Likes

I’ve never let mine grow any breba, are they worth it?

1 Like

They are nice when I haven’t had a fresh fig since last November! Nero 600M yields an abundance of breba. Nothing comparable to most main crop figs though. Only a couple more weeks until I start getting main crop from various varieties.

1 Like

Yes it’s Fort Mill Dark. That is a breba, the big one. It didn’t ripen properly. Although others on it are fine.

Cool! I need to stop hacking it back each year. Maybe I’ll start another one and not prune it. This thing hardly grows as it it, maybe 10 inches a year.

I was able to root 3 of @BobVance’s reservoir figs. He gave me many more cuttings than that, so that speaks to how great my technique was. 2 of them have foliage that’s a lighter shade of green. One of them has some kind of rust on it. I assume the nutrient profile of the potting soil not being perfect can explain the lighter shade of green, but what about the rust?

On the left is the ONE “World’s Best” mulberry cutting that I was able to root. A lot of people asked to buy/trade cuttings, and I thought I had more than enough saved. I still owe Bob a WB cutting. Hopefully I can manage to not kill the plant.

3 Likes

Your figs need a lot of nitrogen!

2 Likes

Miracle grow is in order I guess. I don’t know what I’m doing here!

What about the brown spots? Is that also nitrogen deficiency?

No probably rust. They can turn yellow from too much water too. let them dry a touch.

2 Likes

I have been interested in the wild seedlings that turned out to be common in California.
Some really interesting figs have been found the last few years. I have Valley Black, La Joya, Holy Smokes, Exquisito, and Thermalito. Way too many!
Other figs I have obtained this year are from the Thiery Fig collection… Thiery runs Du Monde figs in France. Well known on the old site F4F, he is like the M pons of France. I added four from his collection this year
Not much is known about these figs although they are all heirlooms.
Info is a Google translation from French. Photos can be seen on the web site for Du Monde Figs.
Labritja - ORIGIN: Spain, Ibiza
DESCRIPTION: Large fig, green epidermis coloring in mauve mainly by vertical lines, strawberry pulp, the skin is covered with horizontal and vertical cracks.
Pichoto - This variety of small figs with a depigmented, discolored appearance and a high taste quality is to be preserved absolutely. The tree is very old and in very poor condition like many of the trees that can be found in former agricultural areas that have become residential. Varieties like Pichoto regularly disappear to build houses. It is all the more unfortunate that Pichoto naturally dries on the tree. The dried figs of Bandol were famous: it rains there very rarely in August at the time of drying.
Risoulet - An elongated, medium-sized fig, with a black skin, and a light red pulp. When the ripens, the fig skin begins to split vertically one or more times if allowed to mature longer on the tree. Like almost all Bandol figs, this fig dries easily. The drying of figs was an important activity in Provence and Bandol as there are not a lot of storms during the period of maturity which would destroy the harvest.
Ouriola is another I picked up and have no info on it yet.
Back to wild common figs I also added

Cherry Bourbon - From the collection of SacredOrigin:
This unique fig tree produced figs that ooze a cherry sap honey when ripe. The fruit has a red inner flesh which is very berry flavored with a nice tang and acid to them similar to cherries. The skin ranges in color from dark purple (3rd photo) to a dark green and red fig (1st and 2nd photo). The fig starts off green then morphs to an olive colored skin with purple striped (7th photo).

The Honey Plum is a classic find from SacredOrigin. It has been a proven winner with sweet fruity plum like flavors… The fig is a medium to large size fruit that has an AMAZING taste of honey and plums that has been vetted by OurFigs members from around the country! Very dark large figs. A large seedling tree found in blueberry field. Taste is plum and honey.

I added a few others but little info Rodgrod, Surge Unknown which looks to be a seedling from Black Mission and unknown pollen. Not determined to be common yet.
I also added
Lebanese Black (Littlejohn) eboone
Unk Prosciutto - ginamcd
Black Tuscan
Green Michurinska
Moscatel Preto

If you sent me cuttings of the last two, let me know as I forgot to record who sent these to me! I guess I added too many to keep it straight this year.
Well I lost some good ones, so nice to have some unusual figs.
Looking for Pellegrino and Paratjal Rimada (the real one!) I lost mine this year to a hard freeze. it still may be alive but doesn’t look good. I have some extra plants of the above mentioned. They are worth a lot and you won’t find many if any available for under 100 bucks. One Du Monde fig this year went for 800. Wish I had that one! I forgot the name. A late ripener, so have no interest.

6 Likes

Potting soil is great for rooting cuttings and starting seeds but has close to no nutrients, so that’s your problem.

You want to add a small dose of liquid fertilizer immediately to help the plants recover and also add a slow release fertilizer like Osmocote or similar. You can also use a organic slow release fertilizer if you prefer.

The brown spots / rust disease is a symptom of a weak plant because they lack nutrients.

Those pots are pretty small so you should plant to up-pot to a 5-10 gal pot or plant them in the ground and winter protect them soon.

4 Likes